How I navigated my being pregnant as a Collection A founder

The information of Emily Weiss shifting to the position of chairwoman of Glossier from her former place as CEO was riddled with gender biases in the way it was coated by the media.

Even the extra balanced protection nonetheless highlighted that she is at the moment pregnant, as if it inevitably performed a think about her choice, although Weiss’ official statement on the matter made no point out of household, being pregnant or kids.

There actually has been progress lately, however we can’t deny that we nonetheless harbor biases and assumptions about pregnant ladies in enterprise. “How a lot day off will they take?” “Are they going to return again?” “Will they work as exhausting as they did earlier than?” “Who’s going to look at their child?”

I realized I used to be pregnant a number of weeks after my well being tech firm raised a $14 million Collection A in January 2021. And as somebody who had beforehand skilled the trauma of a miscarriage, I had completely thrown myself into my different child — my firm. The information of one other being pregnant meant I wanted to care for myself and my firm in a brand new method.

Whereas the expertise wildly varies from girl to girl, and there’s no “appropriate” path to take, I wish to share what labored for me whereas I used to be a pregnant founder and CEO. Girls come as much as me at conferences or catch me at occasions searching for particular and actionable recommendation, so I’m right here to share what labored for me.

At the start, I made a decision to be sincere with my traders and never delay the information or withhold any data. I hadn’t even instructed a few of my household earlier than I selected to inform my traders — I wanted to share the information. Going into the decision, I used to be extremely nervous, so I made a decision to not start with any small discuss. My first phrases have been: “I’m excited to share that George and I are having a child.”

I’m fortunate sufficient to have chosen companions like Bryan Roberts and Dr. Bob Kocher from Venrock, Stephen Renfro at Optum Ventures, Hunter Stroll at Homebrew and the crew at First Spherical Capital, and so they all have been extremely supportive. In the course of the pandemic, when issues regarded so bleak, their faces lit up after they heard the information.

Traders are your corporation companions; they’re individuals with whom you’ll have a relationship that’ll final a number of years, so it’s vital to grasp their stance on matters exterior of labor earlier than you are taking a examine. My traders had chosen to guess on me. So now, me having a child was going to turn out to be a part of our new sport plan, and so they understood that.